the blacksmith
by DEADMANSHANDwin
Summary: me and my best friend in the world of Avatar: the legend of Korra. shenanigans ensue. m for cursing and future fight scenes
1. Chapter 1

Ping! My hammer rebounded off the steel, the metal plate a bright cherry red; I took the plate and quenched it in the oil vat next to me. The metal caused a puff of toxic smoke to be sent straight up into my face as the metal rapidly cooled. I blew the smog away, and then waved away the remaining smell. Inspecting the plate I sought any flaw out. "Hey Tim; fourth plate is done!" my partner ran over and took the plate from my hand and began joining it with the rest of the armor, "dude this might be our best work yet." He said excitedly.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. Remember it doesn't matter what we think, hopefully it will impress Chief Bei Fong. It's her decision whether you make it into the academy, or if I am going to be their new armor producer." I said sternly. Tim had wanted to be a metal bender, ever since we were kids. As orphans in the streets of Republic City, we had gotten into a lot of trouble with the law because of our shenanigans; and knew the Republic City Metal Bender Police Force pretty well. Some of the officers still referred to us as their "little house guests." I started to heat up the last plate, focusing on sending the right amount of current into the steel, thinking in my head the perfect temperature. Not hot enough to melt the metal, but just hot enough to make it mendable. The steel started glowing red, then a brighter orange, and finally a sharp yellow. Being a fire bender made being a blacksmith a lot easier. I didn't have to wait for a forge and guesstamate how long it needed to be in there for it to be the right temperature. _Perfect!_ I thought as I placed the steal on the anvil and started shaping the metal; my hammer once again ringing off the steel, the noise echoing through our workshop. Tim watched for a bit then went to work polishing the newly added plate. As we finished I quenched the final plate and handed it to him then watched as he mounted it to the suit and began polishing it. "Your right you know." Tim stopped what he was doing and gave me a puzzled expression. "Right about what again?"

"This is without a doubt, our greatest work." I stated with absolute conviction. Tim gave me a huge grin "Scott, what have I always told you? I am a genius." I rolled my eyes at the comment "Ya Tim whatever you say. Let's get this thing wrapped up and ready for presentation" we worked from then on without words, focusing on the job at hand. We packed the armor up as gently as we could, wrapping it up to protect the finish. As soon as we were done we put the armor into a cart and started the long journey up to the police station. We were almost over the last hill and in front of the station when we saw a gray haired woman, who looked to be in her fifties standing in full metal bending officer's regalia; however even from here me and Tim could see the wear on the armor; where dents and gashes that had been pulled, and stretched, weakening the metal. That was Chief Bei Fong, a strong and highly independent woman, who wore her battle scars proudly. next to me I heard loudly "Grandma Bei Fong!" and then the cart suddenly weighed twice as heavy as Tim let go of the cart and sprinted forward; with the intention to tackle the Chief like we used to do as kids. "Shit! Tim get back here!" I shouted as the cart started to roll back, taking me and the precious armor that we had slaved over for the last month and a half with it. Tim however could not hear me as he charged forward like a stampeding bull; just as he was about to make his final lunge I saw the Chief's wrist flick up, and a wall of stone shot up between her and Tim; who because of his momentum had no chance to stop himself, and ended up going head first into the wall. At the same time I started to lose my hold on the cart. "Damn it!" I yelled giving everything I had into a final pull, attempting to get the cart to even ground where I could secure it. Just as the last of my energy was expended and I lost my hold on the cart, another wall of stone appeared behind the cart, stopping its disastrous descent. I fell to my knees in exhaustion, then got back up and stormed over to Tim's unconscious body. Turning him over I found a bucket of water, and proceeded to throw it over his face, bucket and all. Tim came awake with a startled jolt and glared up at Chief Bei Fong. "You're so mean Grandma Bei Fong."

"Watch our mouth boy! Both of you, what do you want? I'm very busy today and I don't have time to deal with your ridiculous shenanigans!" Chief Bei Fong shouted down angrily. Before Tim could say anything, and dig our grave any deeper. I said "we know your busy Ma'am, but we only need a moment of your time. We know there is an opening for the position of armorer in the police force and Tim and I would like to apply for it." I motioned towards the cart, "we brought you a sample of our work if you wanted to take a look."

"Fine!" the Chief of police said, "Let's see what you kids have." We all walked over to the cart, then me and Tim took the wraps off of the armor, and laid the armor back down with skilled precision. The chief looked over the armor with the eyes of a skilled metallurgist. She then raised her fist up, our hearts nearly stopped as she brought it back down, full force on the cuirass. Metal on metal rang out in a beautiful chorus, which was punctuated by the sound of metal cracking. Both Tim's and I hearts actually did stop. We examined the cuirass with the eyes of hawks; searching for were the metal had failed us, were the damage had been done. No matter how hard we looked, however we couldn't find where the failure had occurred. Then we looked up at the chief and saw the spider web cracking on her vambrace. I did everything in my power not to smile, but I couldn't help let a small grin escape. Tim on the other hand did nothing to hide his pleasure "hey Grandma Bei Fong, I think you need a new set of armor." She glared back at Tim, who continued undaunted, "it's a good thing you happen to know two really skilled black smiths, who happen to be looking for a job at the moment huh." The Chief scowled. "Alright you two you win, you're hired." She threw me the broken vambrace, "I want this fixed a.s.a.p." I caught it and threw the new armor's vambraces back. "Roger, boss lady." I said. The chief stalked away, going back to yell at her subordinates over something. I turned to Tim and put my hand up for a high five. Just then the rock wall that had been keeping our cart from careening down the hill, slid back into the earth. Our cart started to slowly inch its way back down the hill. Tim and I both made a lunge to stop it, however we were too late as the empty cart picked up speed and was sent barreling down the street. I looked at Tim and laughed, then started after the cart. Luckily we had taken the armor out to show the chief; or else we would have had to clean up a thousand pieces of scrap metal.


	2. Chapter 2

It took less than a day to set up our new shop. The metal bending police had no shortage of materials. I looked over at Tim who had some grease smeared over his face, "hey Tim isn't it time for you to get ready for school?" Tim stopped what he was doing and looked over at the clock. "Oh fuck dude! Why didn't you say something ten minutes ago? I'm going to be late!" I shook my head, "calm down, go take a shower quickly, you have grease on your face."

"Shit!" Tim cursed loudly as he sprinted towards the showers. I snickered at his predicament, last time he was late the chief had him hold a bolder over his head for six hours. I could hear him as I resumed working. He was cursing and mumbling all the while running about the shop gathering the pieces of his armor and uniform. After that I heard him rush out. "Finally! Now I can get some work done in peace!" I said aloud, mostly to myself. I loved Tim to death but he had to always talk when we were working. Admittedly, I had been thinking about finding a way to install a speaker system so we could fill the hours with some music, but I had been having difficulties with figuring out how to get the sound to distribute evenly, or hear it over the whir of the machines. I shrugged off the thought and continued to drill the steel I had in front of me. A few minutes later Tim came sprinting back into the workshop, and grabbed my arm. "what the fuck Tim I'm working!" I yelled as he spun me around. "Shouldn't you be in class right now or something?"

"Dude class was cancelled and you won't ever guess why!" Tim said excitedly, bouncing up and down like a child who needed to go to the bathroom. "Well then tell me already, I have to get these plates done for the armored cars by tomorrow."

"Ok, ok!" Tim said a little disappointed that I didn't want to play twenty questions. "The chief is currently in interrogation, you want to guess who she is interrogating?"

"No."

"You're no fun! Fine she is interrogating… the Avatar." Tim smiled while doing jazz hands as he pronounced avatar. Just to make sure I understood how amazing this fact was. "Umm… ok?" I said, and tried to resume my work, but Tim grabbed my arm again and started to drag me to the door. "Damn it Tim! I have to get my work done!"

"No you don't! You have to see the new Avatar! She is so hot!"

"God damn it Tim, if you don't let go I'm going to shock you!" I said threateningly.

"Fuck you bro, I'll hit you with a rock and then drag you unconscious body to the window!" as we argued we got closer to the door and with a final tug, Tim and I fell through the threshold and into the hall way; right in front of Chief Bei Fong, a water tribe girl and an air nomad guy. Tim looked up at the chief. "Ha ha. Good evening Grandma Bei Fong! What's up?" the Chief glared down at Tim, I quickly intervened so she didn't earth bend him into the wall or something. "What Tim meant to ask Lady Bei Fong, is that he wanted to know why class was cancelled." The Chief's gaze shifted onto me, "I had some unexpected business to attend to."

"It's because the avatar came to town! That's her Scott, see I was right! I told you so!" Tim interjected before I could reply. The chief and I both shot him a glare to be silent, which he blatantly ignored as he got up and walked over to the water tribe girl. What he did next was actually really surprising. "Greetings lady Avatar." Tim said formally, while executing a very regal bow. "My name is Tim, I am one of Lady Bei Fong's metal bending recruits." I looked over at the chief and saw she wore a dumbfounded, yet slightly proud expression. Tim carried on without skipping a beat. "And this is my brother; head blacksmith of the metal bending police, Scott." I bowed courteously at my introduction, "an honor to meet the Avatar." I stood back up smiling, and saw the water tribe girl looked a little uncomfortable with all the attention she was getting. The air nomad gentlemen put a hand on her shoulder to encourage her. She returned the bow and responded just as formal, "it's a pleasure to meet you both, my name is Korra and as you correctly guessed I am the avatar." After Korra finished her bow, Tim repeated the bow, and the Korra returned it. This processed continued until they both smashed their heads off the others and fell to the floor laughing. And there is the Tim we all know and love. I thought as I watched both the Chief and the air nomad gentlemen: who still hadn't introduced himself, put their foreheads into their hands in exasperation. I cleared my throat loud enough to be heard over the two sets of giggles emanating from the floor. "It would truly be an honor for my brother and me, if the Avatar was to join us for the evening meal."

"that sounds…" Korra began, however she was interrupted by the air nomad "I'm sorry." He said. "But the Avatar has some things that require her immediate attention," All the while glaring at Korra as if daring her to challenge him. "Right… I'm sorry but I will have to decline the invitation. Thank you however for offering it in the first place." Tim's face fell in disappointment "ah man that sucks! Whatever we will just have to hang out another time Korra." Tim said with his usual idiot smile on his face. Korra returned the smile and the both fist bumped, "you got it dude!" with that farewell the air nomad and the Chief ushered Korra out of the building onto the street. "Un-fucking believable." I said as I walked back into the shop, Tim close on my heels "what!" he yelled,

"You met the Avatar not five minutes ago and you are already best friends with her! Un- fucking believable!" I laughed.

"What can I say, I'm awesome." Tim sarcastically replied. We both started to get back to work when we heard from the door, "Tim if you had been on time for class you would have known I didn't cancel it! If you don't get your ass down here in the next fifteen seconds ill have you doing chin touches for the next week!" Tim's face went pale as he yelled back "yes ma'am!" and proceeded to sprint out of the work shop, not realizing that sometime between the minute we had been working and the moment the chief had hollered, he had somehow managed to get grease on his face again. "Un-fucking believable." I mumbled as I continued drilling the steel plate.


End file.
